Tunnels of Blood

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

Warning: This is the third book in the CIRQUE DU FREAK series, so this review will contain spoilers for the previous books. You don???t have to read the previous books because author Darren Shan gives a short but sufficient recap, but starting at the beginning would be ideal.

Mr. Crepsley is the only full vampire that Darren had ever met until Gavner Purl, Vampire General, shows up at the Cirque du Freak. After Purl meets with Mr. Crepsley, Darren is told that he and his mentor will be taking a little break from the freak show and going to live in a city while Crepsley takes care of some business there. Darren is allowed to bring his friend Evra the snake-boy.

At first the city is fun and Darren even meets a girl who becomes his first girlfriend. But then things start going badly, as they always do. Darren and Evra see a news report which says that corpses have been showing up ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/tunnels-of-blood/

The third installation of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series takes us to an unnamed city plagued by an elusive killer. Darren and his mentor, Larten Crepsley, are paid a visit from an old friend of Mr. Crepsley's named Gavner Purl, a Vampire General. After a clandestine conversation with Gavner, Mr. Crepsley announces that he must leave the Cirque for a while and go live in the city, and Darren as his assistant has to go with him. Dismayed at the idea of having to be alone all the time in a strange place, Darren convinces his best friend Evra Von to join him.
While Mr. Crepsley is away or sleeping, Darren and Evra spend time enjoying themselves in the city, going to zoos and other interesting places. Darren even meets a girl, Debbie Hemlock, who adores the fact that he's just a little strange and that his best friend is a snake-boy. Coming home from Debbie's one night just before Christmas, Darren finds Evra transfixed by a TV news show that is reporting the finding of six dead humans, all drained of their blood. Evra and Darren argue as to who the culprit is, and Darren immediately suspects Mr. Crepsley, who is never home at night. He tracks Mr. Crepsley to a slaughterhouse, prepared to kill his master, but finds out that he's fighting an enemy he never could have dreamed about. It will take every wit Darren and Mr. Crepsley have to conquer the mad murderer, as well as a lot of luck.
Darren Shan has created yet another spellbinding volume in the story of a young boy's training as a vampire's assistant. This book gets four stars instead of five because the trademark suspense and thrills usually present throughout the books is left until the end. It seems that this books serves as more of a vehicle to show Darren's growth and knowledge of humanity, rather than scare the readers. Don't worry, though, there's plenty of gross stuff for everyone, and Shan sets up what promises to be a fascinating fourth novel, as Darren faces a new enemy and learns more about the vampire world.